Mother calls for tougher dog laws as man is jailed for attack which left daughter scarred for life

Convicted: Hezron Curtis, 35, was convicted after his banned dog attacked a four-year-old

The mother of a four-year-old girl scarred for life by a pit bull terrier today demanded tougher laws to punish irresponsible dog owners.

The 42-year-old looked on in horror as her daughter was mauled by the dog called ‘Lucky’ while riding her scooter outside Gospel Oak station.

It left her with permanent scarring and nerve damage which has paralysed half of her face.

Lucky’s owner Hezron Curtis, 35, shouted ‘sorry, I’m so sorry’ to the child’s family as he was sentenced to just over two years jail at Blackfriars Crown Court yesterday.

But the mother said laws must be changed to allow longer sentences and that the dog - which savaged another victim just months before - “shouldn’t have been on the streets”. Four Met officers are now under investigation in relation to the earlier attack.

The maximum sentence under the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 for being in charge of a dog which causes injury while out of control is two years.

The mother, who managed to prise the dog’s jaws open after it gripped her daughter’s head in its mouth, said: “We hope sentencing guidelines can be extended to the same as injuries caused by dangerous driving. We need more of a deterrent.

“We also need education. When a teenager goes out and gets themselves a dog like this they don’t think about what may happen to a young child.

“The last thing on their mind is the horror like this that can happen. That dog shouldn’t have been on the streets. We need change.”

Sentencing Curtis, Judge Peter Clarke QC, said a photograph of the girl’s face showed “the worst injury I have seen to a living person in the 40 years I have been working in the criminal justice system.”

He ordered Lucky be destroyed after the court heard of the previous attack in Camden in August when it chased a cat into a house before killing it and savaging the owner’s foot.

Curtis had been on his BMX bike with his two pit bull terriers on leads when Lucky launched the attack on the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at 6pm outside the train station.

Curtis, of Laurier Road, Tufnell Park, admitted two counts of being in charge of a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control. He was given seven months in jail for the attack in August and a further 18 months for the attack on the child.

Judge Clarke said: “The message has to go out that people who have fighting dogs that this cannot be tolerated.

“This case has demonstrated that the maximum sentence for this kind of offence is in need of urgent reform.

“When a small child can be attacked in this way even without the owner wanting it to happen - given the harm that was caused to [the girl] I feel I was constrained in this case by the maximum sentence set by Parliament.”

A Met spokesman said: “As a result of the incident on December 4, police launched a review of all previous allegations of dog bites in Camden.

“This matter was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), who instructed that it should be investigated by the MPS Department of Professional Standards (DPS).

“Four officers are currently the subject of an internal investigation relating to the August incident.”